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Grieving Father Talks About Teen’s Suicide

NEW LONDON, Minn. (WCCO) — Hundreds of people from the small community of New London-Spicer gathered Sunday to deal with the crisis of teen suicide and embrace two grieving families.

A father says through his community, he’s able to find strength following the death of his teenage daughter.

Earlier this month, Tim Lucas of New London-Spicer found his 15-year-old daughter Halee dead. There was a suicide note next to her.

Two days after Haley’s death, 19-year old Zach Jones killed himself.

“Somehow suicide was an answer, was the way out. That was a huge lie. And spread that to our children and let them know it is not a solution. It does not help anything. It does not solve anything,” Lucas said.

The community forum brought together mental health experts, school officials and church leaders.

Reg Chapman joined WCCO-TV in May of 2009. He came to WCCO from WNBC-TV in New York City where he covered an array of stories for the station including the Coney Island plane crash, the crane collapse on the city’s east side, 50 shots fired at...

One Comment

Suicide is basically a way of saying “screw it, whats the point”…
People need to be strong and move on, dealing with day to day issues can be frustrating – but in the end, once you’ve overcome the day – you feel great!

To St. Paulian,
How dismissive and disrespectfull it is of you to address the horrors of suicide with such trivial comments. The pain, hopelessness, loneliness, fear and anxiety that may lead to such a truly sad result are not the result of a bad day. Many people live their entire lives with the scars and hearbreak experienced during their teen years. My heart goes out to the families of those that were lost and to those that survive the devistation of depression.

Two different incidents…one was Halee Lucas of New London-Spicer earlier this month and her friend who is a boy(Dont know if they were dating) Zach Jones, and the more recent incident was Haylee Fentress and Paige Moravetz of Lynd/Marshall.

Where is the National Suicide hotline number while you are doing all these stories about the loss of these two children. It is our job as a society to do what we can to prevent suicide in all ages. Please do your part, when you are telling these stories over and over again place numbers that people can call. Get some experts on to give warning signs of what people need to look for. Please lets do all we can to stop suicide. I know the pain that it leaves behind. I am Zach’s grandma.

Seek help as soon as possible by contacting a mental health professional or by calling the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK if you or someone you know exhibits any of the following signs:

•Threatening to hurt or kill oneself or talking about wanting to hurt or kill oneself
•Looking for ways to kill oneself by seeking access to firearms, available pills, or other means
•Talking or writing about death, dying, or suicide when these actions are out of the ordinary for the person
•Feeling hopeless
•Feeling rage or uncontrolled anger or seeking revenge
•Acting reckless or engaging in risky activities – seemingly without thinking
•Feeling trapped – like there’s no way out
•Increasing alcohol or drug use
•Withdrawing from friends, family, and society
•Feeling anxious, agitated, or unable to sleep or sleeping all the time
•Experiencing dramatic mood changes
•Seeing no reason for living or having no sense of purpose in life